My Little Pony: The War of Equestria City
by Fladdles
Summary: In the future, the three separated races of ponies engage in a world war as resources become scarce and relations between races become hostile.
1. Alison

The year is 2152, one thousand, one hundred and fifty-two years since Nightmare Moon was defeated by the Elements of Harmony. Ponyville is long gone, now a hillside of condos and resorts. Skyscrapers loom on the horizon.

Welcome to Equestria City.

The population ranks up around 9 million ponies. Other massive cities have sprung up all over the land as the Industrial Age took over, expanding the population exponentially. Year by year, however, the three races of ponies were divided out as cultural differences got thicker and thicker. The Pegasi were the first to leave, immigrating hundreds of miles away in the course of 12 years, completely gone from Equestria City by 2179. The two remaining species of ponies worked together and developed a weather facility on the ground to make up for the Pegasi's void. But eventually Unicorns migrated even further away from Equestria City a couple decades later, as riots and hostile cultural differences continued to rise. Princesses Celestia and her sister Luna did their best to keep relations between the races neutral but they could only help so much.

As tension grew between countries, weapons manufacturing and military might that was previously unimagined began to be developed as each race prepared itself for the inevitable. The brink of world war was now upon all ponykind. Each nation grew larger, needing more land and resources to fuel its growth. Hostilities only grew more and more tense as resources were debated over.

The straw broke the camel's back on December 7th of the year 2203, with the Pegasi bombing of one military base, Mare Harbor, in a preemptive strike to keep the Earthen ponies from interfering with the ongoing Pegasi invasion of the Unicorn countries. The three hundred and forty-three Pegasi dropped thousands of bombs during the attack, completely devastating the harbor. Two hundred and forty-two ponies were killed on the ground, and 1,082 were injured. Only minutes into the attack, the Earthen ponies defended themselves with heavy cannons and AA guns. Only 29 Pegasi were shot down, however.

The United Earthen Nation declared war on the Pegasi. The Unicorns saw their opportunity and attacked the United Earthen Nation soon after. Years later, a mare was drafted into the Earthen military, trained, and sent out into the war zone of the world she was born into.

Her name is Alison, the year is 2225, and this is her story.

* * *

><p>The pavement rushes past her as she dashes on all fours.<p>

_SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHI- _

Her squad had been ambushed about a half hour ago. She was the in the back of her 5-pony squad as they patrolled the streets of the Central Business District, West.

_Welcome to Equestria City_

A deafening roar suddenly had engulfed her as a hot cloud of dust and fire completely obliterated two squad members in front of her. A muted red blur in the air above rushed past the dazed ponies and began to turn around into another flyby. The squad split up running in opposite directions. Alison ran and glanced back once. The red form sped up behind one of her running team members and swiped him off of his hooves, dragging his struggling body high up into the air before throwing him down to his death.

Alison continues running until she reaches a building with a hole blown in the wall. She raises herself onto her hind legs and slowly walks through the gap, scanning her surroundings with her assault rifle.

_Except for her face, Alison's entire body is covered in overlapping armored plates of steel to protect her from shrapnel, debris, and some small arms fire. Her rifle, an M-421, is built into the armor plating on her right forearm. You couldn't even tell that it was there unless you looked closely and spotted a small part of the barrel protruding from the smooth, elongated dome of the metal shell covering the delicate internal parts of the weapon. Her steel helmet covers every inch of her head except her mouth. A thin, plastic visor is over her eyes and nose, and two holes in the top of her helmet allow her orange ears to perk up naturally. She is an Earthen Marine, of the United Earthen Nation. _

Alison opens a door cautiously and enters the darkness of the stairwell. Her helmet clicks as a light on its side turns on, illuminating the stairs.

_ Her helmet contains small, on-board computer directly connected to her mind through a wireless neural implant. She can fire her weapon, reload, use her radio, and turn on the light by only thinking of it.  
><em>  
>She reaches the 24th floor, switching her light off and emerging from the stairwell silently, her gun raised. The entire floor is an enormous maze of cubicles. A thin but noticeable layer of dust covers everything around her. She slowly walks up to the window and looks outside. A Pegasus flies by outside, thin contrails trailing off its wings. Before Alison has a chance to react and hide from the pony, a massive explosion destroys the 23rd floor of the skyscraper next to her. The explosion throws the Pegasus toward the window a few meters to the right of Alison. The winged pony shatters the glass as it tumbles through and smashes into a cubicle, throwing paper and dust into the air. Alison crouches behind a cubicle and waits for a full minute.<p>

No other Pegasi fly by outside.

She glances out the window. The city stares back at her. She slowly walks over to the window and looks outside, taking in the view. Thousands of skyscrapers and other buildings continue to the horizon. The streets are littered with spots of flaming debris, giving off long columns of smoke that melt into the clouds far above. Flashes of gunfire flicker in the streets and sky as jets shriek threw the dirty clouds. In the distance, an anti-air gun fires from inside a skyscraper at a trio of Pegasi, its hot rounds tracing arcs into the sky before exploding in tufts of fire.

Alison nearly jumps when hears a groan from behind her. She turns around and raises her hoof in the direction of the Pegasus. She quietly walks around the cubicle and keeps her gun trained on the back of the pony's helmet as it gets up, not yet acknowledging Alison's presence. A memory flashes in Alison's mind as she remembers reading about the Pegasus warriors.

_Pegasi troops, known as Interceptors, have guns equipped to their front hooves like Earthen marines, only with straps since Pegasi don't wear armor, only a helmet. A minigun is attached to their right forearm, and a small grenade launcher is attached to their left. They perform dives, flybys, and strafing runs over their targets, obliterating them with explosives and bullets before their target even knows what's happening. _

The Pegasus turns around and immediately spots Alison, raising its minigun at her. Alison feels the rifle's recoil as her M-421 fires a single round into the Pegasus's head. The Pegasus's visor shatters in a spray of blood and glass shards as the pony is thrown onto its back, blood streaming from her helmet. Alison keeps her rifle pointed on the dead pony.

A minute passes as Alison watches the pony bleed. For all she knows, this Pegasus might have flown with the pony that obliterated her team members not long ago.

Alison's ears prick up involuntarily…another Pegasus is coming. The squeal of an incoming rocket makes the hair on the back of her neck shoot straight out. Alison turns around and sprints around the office space to another cubicle and ducks under a desk. The missile shrieks in through a broken window and impacts a cubicle; engulfing several other cubicles and surrounding them in thick black smoke and fire as it detonates. Alison pops up from under the desk on two legs and scans the office with her rifle. A Pegasus flies through the broken window and looks in Alison's direction…its red coat radiant in the setting sunlight. This is the pony that just killed three of her team members.

_Die, you son of a-_

Alison fires a grenade from the grenade launcher mounted below her rifle. The grenade impacts the ceiling a few feet from the Pegasus, completely obliterating the ceiling panels and flying pony. A group of 6 Pegasi in a delta formation glides outside. Alison notices and sprints for the stairwell. One of the Pegasi spots her as he investigates the explosion and breaks out of the formation, firing his minigun. Two other Pegasi follow closely behind him as they bring their rotating-barreled guns up to firing speed. Alison dives down the stairs, landing with a metal thud as a rain of bullets punch through the concrete wall in front of her. She rolls over onto her back and twitches her hoof, alternating the type of grenade in her grenade launcher. Taking aim, she fires the round up at the ceiling of the office. The small cylinder bounces off the ceiling and ricochets off of a few cubicles before stopping on the floor as it shoots out a thick white smoke. Alison jumps and sprints down the stairwell.

_Shit just got real._

The grenade is an FA-3, a fuel-air grenade. Once primed, the grenade spews an explosive aerosol that quickly spreads into its surroundings. A few seconds later, a compound in the base of the grenade comes in contact with oxygen and catches on fire as the compressed aerosol is completely released. The aerosol is ignited and instantly explodes; causing a shockwave that tears anything within 20 meters into shreds. Anything alive within 30 meters can still get the wind knocked out of it and suffer temporary loss of hearing.

The Pegasus sniffs the air.

_Oh shi-_

Alison falls down the stairs as an explosion rumbles through the building, shaking it violently. Her head slams into the wall, denting the steel and smashing her light as she is plunged into complete darkness.


	2. Strider

She shifts in her seat uncomfortably. The bay is filled with at least 60 other seated ponies, all wearing their combat helmet and weapons, patiently awaiting their drop. The large dropship rumbles high above the clouds at Mach 3 as it nears Equestria City. She is sitting in the nearest seat by the bay doors. Despite the loud noise of the massive array of 10 jet engines propelling the aircraft, she can hear her own ragged breathing inside of her airtight helmet. A pony in heavy flight gear and a differently shaped helmet stands by the doors, or tries to stand. He waits for a moment before he receives a confirmation message inside his helmet. He activates his radio, "Approaching Equestria City, North CBD. Team Delta, Gamma, and Epsilon prepare for drop."

She unbuckles the straps crossing over her chest and holds onto the railing as she gets up. The aircraft shudders as it slows down to sub-sonic speed. Five other ponies get up behind her: the rest of Team Epsilon. Two other 6-pony teams of Pegasi stand by the bay doors. All the ponies are wearing a spherical, aerodynamic helmet and a weapon strapped to each of their front hooves.

They are Pegasi Interceptors.

The pony in the flight gear pushes a button on the wall. A red light by the button turns green, illuminating the bay with its hue.

Team Delta stands by the bay doors as they slowly open. When they have opened completely, the team members fearlessly jump out one by one. Team Gamma goes next, a couple of the ponies doing a barrel roll as they dive head first out of the dropship. She walks on all four hooves to the bay doors, the rest of her team in a line behind her. She swallows hard and gracefully falls out of the dropship. She glances back and watches as the dropship quickly roars away, her other team members jumping out one by one. She looks around and spots the sun setting over a cloudy horizon. The air above the clouds is so clear, free of smoke and ash. She forgets to breathe for a moment while she indulges in its subtle beauty. With the roar of the dropship gone, the only sound she hears is the quiet howl of the wind around her. The moment is ruined when she begins to enter the clouds.

_All Pegasi Interceptors wear a combat helmet and two weapons when deployed into a warzone. The helmet is made of a light metal with a thin, dark tinted glass visor. The helmet contains a wireless neural interface that connects their weapons to the wearer's minds, allowing them to engage targets with a thought alone. Inside the helmet is a Heads Up Display (HUD) with an Altimeter, Airspeed Indicator, Thermal Overlay, and weapons information. _

The cold, moist air rushes past like the calming mist of a waterfall as she falls through the thick and puffy stratocumulus cloud layer. The clouds get thinner as she descends, but she still can't see anything except for the seemingly infinite grayness. Despite the filter and breathing apparatus in her airtight helmet, the heavy scent of ash fills her nostrils. The clouds slowly dissipate as she free-falls at an altitude of just over 3 kilometers. The cloud vanishes all of a sudden and the flaming, hellish warzone of a city overwhelms her. It's more mesmerizing on the front lines than in the hundreds of orbital, recon, and combat photos she's seen. She stares for what seems like minutes but is in actuality only a second or two. Her heads-up display adjusts the altimeter from tens of meters to hundreds as it detects her rapid descent. The Pegasus activates the radio in her helmet, "This is Strider, E-255, beginning my descent into Equestria city, North Central Business District. Epsilon Team: Acknowledge solid copy, over."

_The HUD (Heads-Up-Display) turns on small green dots in the upper left of her visor representing her teammates as they acknowledge her transmission._

"Baker E-254, acknowledged, over."

"Kent E-257, acknowledged, over."

"Mathias E-256, acknowledged, over."

"Ghost E-253, acknowledged, over."

"Strongheart E-258, acknowledged, over."

Strider responds, "Level out at 100 meters and head North to begin strafing run of first target. Proceed to second target and then await further instruction, Strider out."

Strider watches the miniature radar overlay in the top left corner of her HUD as 5 green dots come of the surrounding cloud cover follow a blue dot: Strider. She is the head mare of the 6-pony team of Interceptors. Their primary mission objective is to illuminate an anti-air nest to the North, to provide safer passage of reinforcements. Their secondary objective is another AA gun in a nest to the West. The tertiary objective: to spread out and destroy any opposition until otherwise instructed. Strider's HUD alerts her as its altimeter detects the increasing altitude loss. She is freefalling at terminal velocity: 60 meters per second. She watches the altimeter as it counts down.

1100 Meters –

1000 Meters -

900 Meters -

800 Meters -

700 Meters -

600 Meters -

_Wait for it…_

400 Meters -

300 Meters -

200 Meters –

_NOW_

The Pegasus extends her wings and levels out, cruising at high speed at an altitude of exactly 100 meters. The air tugs on her feathered appendages as she effortlessly glides by the massive skyscrapers towering high above the deadly streets below. Her team members arrange themselves in a triangular formation behind her: two ponies behind Strider, and three ponies behind them. Contrails form over the team's wings as the ponies glide through the city. Strider smiles slightly in her helmet.

_This_ is why she joined the military…_this_ is the kind of flying she was _made_ for.

Her HUD snaps the pony out of her bliss.

_ALRT: OBJECTIVE 1 IN RANGE_

She arms her high-explosive missiles with a mere thought and feels the gun strapped to her left forearm twitch. She spots the target: The 27th floor of a nearby skyscraper. Inside, 4 AA guns are set up, one for each side of the building. Strider's team would have to fire first if they were to win a battle with this machine…and the pony at the controls.

"Epsilon Team, begin primary attack run on target. Smoke 'em."

Strider's HUD highlighted the South gun in a white box, its massive 30-millimeter barrel sticking out in their direction a meter from the window. The pony manning the gun hasn't noticed them. A large white "X" blinks inside the white box her HUD painted on the gun, indicating target lock. She fires from her team's distance of approximately 250 meters and closing. Her arm shudders as 10 pen-sized, lifeless missiles eject out of her weapon. About 10 meters into their trajectory the missiles flare as their rocket engines come to life, propelling them in a rapid, laser-guided flight path towards the AA guns. Each team member fires ten missiles in an organized sequence as they fly. The whining of the missiles fills Strider's ears.

The heat and smoke of the 60 missiles engulfs her team for a split second.

The team emerges from the smoke to see the massive explosions of the missiles rapidly detonating in a loud chain of low-pitched thumps, their dull echo rebounding between nearby skyscrapers. The entire 27th floor is absorbed in a storm of fire and smoke. The previously enemy-inhabited level is now a flaming, hellish wasteland.

Suddenly the floor caves in as the supports crumble. The 15 stories towering above the burning floor pancake into each other, forcing the entire building down in a smooth domino effect. The team of Interceptors swerves away as it passes the collapsing structure. The skyscraper flattens with a bellowing roar into a dust cloud of twisted metal, glass, and debris that engulfs the entire street below for an entire 5 blocks in all directions.

"WHOOOHOOO! GET SOME!" Baker screams from Strider's right.

Strider looks back and watches for a few seconds as the dust cloud steadily spreads out into more than 10 blocks in a circle around the destroyed establishment. She turns back around and activates her radio, a playful smile in her voice, "Command, this is Strider E-255. Target 1 is history. Secondary attack run is a negative. Proceeding to next target, over."

The 6-pony formation slowly veers left. Strider pulls up a map of the city with her HUD and studies it as she flies. The next target is about 1.7 kilometers West. The formation completes its gradual left turn. Strider activates her radio, "Epsilon, begin steady ascent to 600 meters, follow my lead."

Strider slowly gains altitude as her teammates match her climb, staying in formation. The street below gets smaller. The air gets slightly colder. Strider stops her ascent at 600 meters, flying near the roofs of the higher skyscrapers. She looks around the city for her target, spotting it several blocks away. It is another skyscraper. This time, there are 4 AA guns on the roof, as well as a 4 on several of the other floors.

_This building is a fortress. _Strider thinks to herself as she approaches the target, 60 meters higher than the roof.

Two of the guns on the roof light up as they fire artillery into the sky toward the East, the rounds detonating far away into black puffs of smoke. A few on the far side of the building flash as missiles arc out towards the heart of the city.

"Ready weapons, we want to take them out before they spot us." Strider radios.

The team approaches the target from their high altitude. The Pegasi align their hooves with the AA guns, some ponies aiming for the roof, others for the floors below it. Suddenly one of the AA guns rotates on its mount and aims directly for Epsilon Team.

"BREAK OFF! WE'VE BEEN SPOTTED!" Strider yells into her radio.

Not a second after she finishes her transmission the gun flashes and she is knocked out of formation by an enormous explosion. Shrapnel scratches thin lines in her helmet's visor as she emerges from a mass of thick black smoke. One of the five green dots in her HUD instantly turns red: Strongheart's life signs are gone. Her team scatters in opposite directions, hiding from the guns. Strider veers right and speeds through the broken window of the skyscraper across the street to her target. She crouches behind a support pillar, panting from the adrenaline rush. Her leg feels wet; it is bleeding from shrapnel. The distant whine of missiles pierces the air. She looks out from behind the pillar to see if her team is engaging the target. She is wrong; the AA guns have fired 4 heat-seeking missiles right at her.

_FUCK_

Strider sprints and dives through a nearby broken window, powering her fall with her wings to the streets below. A large explosion thunders above as the missiles don't make it through the skyscraper. She looks over her shoulder and spots one missile still in pursuit. Somehow it not only threaded the needle through one of the skyscraper's floors, missing cubicles and support pillars, but it also dove after her as she sped towards the ground.

_LETS SEE YOU PULL UP THEN_

Strider continues her powered fall toward the street. The missile is so close to her she could hear it roaring only a 10 or so meters behind her. She flares her wings and pulls up as hard as she could. She stretches her arms and legs out as she skims the street by less than 6 centimeters. She hears the missile detonate close behind her as it impacts the street.

She _feels_ the missile detonate.

The dust and dirt on the street kicks up into the air around her as the concussion of the blast passes by, thumping her _hard._ She grunts as she is slammed into the ground, scraping herself up as she skids for a good 20 meters on the asphalt at high speed. She immediately sits up as soon as she stops skidding and shakes her head. One other green dot in her HUD is red: Mathias.

Her team is dying out there. She flaps her wings and ignores the pain as a bleeding feather falls off. Vertically taking off and speeding into the sky, she points her bloody, scratched up hoof at the skyscraper's midsection. The gunfire from an AA machine gun and flak cannon simultaneously erupt from the building interior as they target somepony. She fires all her missiles…all 30 of them…into the building as she speeds toward it. Their rocket engines flare as they squeal loudly towards the building.

Kent's dot flashes from green to red.

The missiles detonate in a tempest of explosions. She nears the building and pulls up at the last second, skimming the windows as she ascends past the flaming floor. The unbroken windows of the floors below her shatter from the building warping as the floors collapse onto each other.

_DEJA VU, MOTHERF-_

Fueled by anger for her fallen teammates, she swiftly flies past the roof of the structure as the concrete platform of the building's roof cracks into 3 separate pieces, caving in and taking everything on top down with it. The building collapses rapidly, nearly freefalling before smashing into the ground with an intense roar that trembles down Strider's spine. The building suddenly blasts into a massive fireball as ammunition stores inside explode. Strider flies out of the way of the rising firestorm and pieces of debris zipping by. She pants heavily as she orbits the wreckage, exhausted and injured.

"This is Strider E-255, do you copy, Epsilon? Secondary target is destroyed, acknowledge copy, over."

A moment passes as Strider slowly circles the flaming wreckage of the skyscraper, admiring the subtle beauty of its destruction.

Two team members radio back, "This is Ghost E-253, acknowledged, over"

"This is Baker E-254, acknowledged, over"

Strider watches her two team members fly out from hiding spaces within nearby buildings.

She activates her radio, continuing her orbit of the destroyed skyscraper, "Command, this is Strider E-255. Primary and Secondary objectives are complete. Tertiary objective is a go. Search and destroy, Epsilon Team, Strider E-255 over and out."

Strider continues orbiting the wreckage as her team members split up in opposite directions. Strider watches her comrades as they begin their hunt for any opposition. She flutters to a nearby skyscraper.

* * *

><p>Baker scans the street below with his HUD. The view in his HUD changes to thermal as he looks through a thick column of smoke covering an intersection. Three white forms show up like beacons through the smoke, their heat signature giving them away.<p>

_Gotcha…_

He locks onto one of the pony's heat signatures and waits as a white square in his HUD aligns itself over the pony. A white 'X' flashes inside the white box as his HUD beeps, acknowledging a lock on the target. Baker aims his hoof and fires a single missile. A second passes as he flies over the target. Suddenly an explosion obliterates the three ponies as the missile impacts the pony dead-on. Baker switches his thermal filter off and takes a final look at the crater he made before continuing onward through the city.

* * *

><p>Ghost speeds through the streets only a few meters above the ground. Dust trails behind him as it is pulled up from the cracks in the street from his speed. Suddenly a massive explosion obliterates the intersection a few blocks ahead. A large, metallic form screams by 130 meters or so above the cross-street. It's an Earthen jet, an F-41 to be exact. Ghost turns left at the smoldering intersection, pursuing the jet. He locks onto the jet and raises his hoof to fire a missile. The jet suddenly climbs in altitude, screeching as its engines are pushed to their limits.<p>

_Bastard knows I'm here…_

Ghost flaps his wings as hard as he can as he continues to follow the jet. He raises his hoof and fires a missile. The jet shoots out hot, sparkling flares and does a barrel roll as it levels out at a higher altitude. The missile impacts a flare and detonates. Ghost veers out of the way of the fireball; passing so close that he can feel the heat singe his coat. Switching to his minigun, he aims and fires a full second of sustained fire at the jet. A few rounds impact the wings, shredding the metal like paper. The jet veers left and then right, trying to dodge Ghost's continuing bursts of fire. It sharply dives at full throttle, a thick vapor trail forming over its metallic body. The jet continues to dive almost straight down as Ghost follows about 145 meters behind it. A large concussion rolls through the street as the jet goes supersonic, shattering windows of the buildings it shrieks by as it levels out at 23 meters above the street. Ghost flies as fast as he can but notices he can't follow the jet when it's going so fast…definitely not when its going supersonic. He levels out at 70 meters and locks onto the jet, firing a missile right as it passes out of range of his HUD. The jet shoots out flares again, but the missile screams right past them, not seeing them long enough to follow them. The missile slams into the jet's engines, blowing up into a fireball roughly twice the size of the aircraft. The jet breaks into thousands of pieces that fall to the ground. Ghost speeds over the wreckage without looking back.

* * *

><p>Strider is leaning against the wall, a strip of gauze in her mouth.<p>

Her scratched helmet lies next to her. Her rocket launcher and minigun lie on the ground beside it, their straps splayed out on the dusty carpet.

She wraps the gauze around her severely scratched blue forearm. A stitch of sharp pain makes her clench her teeth involuntarily. The injured pony ties off the gauze with a sharp tug, muffling a scream of pain through her clenched teeth.

She reaches over to her rocket launcher and holds it on her arm with her hoof, strapping it on with her mouth. The straps tighten against her wound painfully.

She picks up her helmet in her sore, bandaged hooves and looks over it. It is severely scratched up from the incident with the missile. She glances at her last name hastily scribbled on the back with a permanent marker.

_Dash_

Strider had heard stories of her famous ancestor with the rainbow mane and reputation as the only pony to perform a Sonic Rainboom, but she never found the stories really interesting.

_Some ancient pony doing something so amazing and jaw-dropping that it could never been done again…what interesting and useful information. Not._

She slips the helmet over her head, straightening her red mane as it gets scrunched up. She only has 43 rounds left in her minigun, and no missiles. Command didn't tell her, but she knew the minute she left that she wouldn't be coming back home. They expected her to eventually die in the city, taking as much opposition as she could with her. Something about "honor" or "glorious death in the battlefield" she heard someone call it before.

_Bullshit. I have a life back at home. I ain't going on no suicide mission. _

She walks on two hooves over to the window of the skyscraper and looks out at the city below. If she could find a dead Pegasus with some ammo left, she might be able to restock her supplies. The thought of searching a dead comrade makes her skin crawl. The shame would have to suck it, though, she isn't going to just give up and die alone in the city. She takes a last look at the city, alive with spots of gunfire and distant explosions.

She slowly leans forward and falls out of the window, her wings spreading out in her free-fall as she plummets straight down…

…head first into hell.


	3. Marcus

Marcus ducks behind a nearby brick wall as enemy bullets whistle over his head.

He looks over to his team members as they rest for a moment: John, Sweets, and Harry. The team, team Beta, is an infiltration unit. Their mission was to capture enemy battle plans from a computer database and then blow up the computers. The database was one of many in an Earthen airbase in the East Residential District of Equestria City, which the team snuck into. They stole the information quietly, rigged explosives, and escaped the base unnoticed…until about 5 minutes out on their 20-minute run to a safe extraction point. An enemy soldier found the computers rigged to be destroyed and raised the alarm.

Now Team Beta is being pursued by Earthen soldiers, helicopters, and Humvees as the team sprints toward the extraction point.

John, the leader of the team, struggles to call for air support, "I repeat, any nearby aircraft please respond!"

John has been radioing for support for nearly 10 minutes.

There are no Unicorn aircraft scheduled to be in Beta's sector, to help them maintain a low profile. Any aircraft outside of the sector are busy with their own missions anyway.

Suddenly a hiss of static and a reply crackles through the radio.

"This is Puff-211, available for air support. What is your sector Beta?"

John barely gives the pilot of the AC-310 Spectre – a plane outfitted with two 20mm guns, one 40mm, and a single 105mm artillery cannon - enough time to finish his last word before John speedily names out the coordinates of their position.

"Roger that, Beta – acquiring visual now, standby… I see four foot-mobiles running North-West through residential streets and…hot damn, a dozen plus search parties and two helo's in pursuit. Confirm hostile targets, over."

Marcus looks over his shoulder at their pursuers to see how close they are as John replies without looking back, "Affirmative, search parties and helo's are confirmed hostile. The four foot-mobiles are friendlies, over."

"Copy that, uh…hostiles are danger close, Beta. Confirm engagem-"

A bullet whizzes by John's ear and hits a mailbox only a meter away, blowing it into hot strips of metal. John screams into the radio, "Engage, goddammit!"

A second passes before the pilot responds, "Roger, Beta. Keep your heads down, this is gonna get loud. Puff-211 engaging ground units."

John strains himself to run faster. Sweets, Harry, and Marcus follow right behind him.

_Puff the magic dragon._

A loud scream wails overhead followed by a thundering explosion that shakes the street below the team's hooves. Marcus trips face first onto the asphalt, scraping his face horribly as a heavy dust cloud engulfs the 4 unicorns. Harry skids to a stop and tugs Marcus back up. The two struggle to keep up with John and Sweets. Marcus feels blood trickle down his face.

His ears throb with pain as a chain of blasts rumbles through the ground, finishing off any survivors. Marcus can't hear anything but his own breathing. He looks over his shoulder and sees one of the helicopters swerve around the column of settling dust and fire a missile.

"Look out!" Marcus screams. He can't hear himself scream, but he can feel the air leave his lungs.

The missile impacts a house to the team's left, throwing debris over the four ponies. He struggles to get up but a piece of wood is pinning him down. He looks back at the helicopters as they hover a few houses away. Ropes come out of the doors and Earthen militia start to slide down to the ground.

* * *

><p>"Enemy helo's are deploying infantry. Smoke 'em."<p>

Sapphire looks at the monitor and shifts slightly in his seat. He is the gunner of Puff. The viewscreen in front of him shows thermal camera feed from a lens on the hull of the ship. It shows the street with Beta covered in rubble.

His horn glows dimly as the view on the screen shifts up and right, displaying the hovering helicopters. The white box on the HUD of the viewscreen, the cannon's aim point, aligns over a helicopter.

* * *

><p>A loud scream pierces through Marcus's deafened ears. He looks around and sees one of the helicopters explode into millions of red-hot metal fragments, raining a firestorm directly on the troops it was deploying. Half of a rotor flies through the air and cuts into the other helicopter across the street, causing it to spiral across the street and crash into the destroyed house next to Marcus, exploding in a massive fireball.<p>

The heat of the flames makes Marcus sweat.

* * *

><p>"Two birds, one stone – good hit, good hit. I see lots of little pieces down there." Sapphire's assistant acknowledges.<p>

Sapphire's horn glows as the view shifts right. A trio of Earthen ponies are advancing on Beta's position. They must been on the ground already when the second helicopter was hit by his cannon. Sapphire fires the 40mm cannon of the gunship a few more times, a shot rumbling through the gunship once per second, tossing some more artillery at the militia. The plane shudders from the gunfire. The monitor lights up as the few Earthen militia that survived are obliterated by a trio of explosions. Body parts and hot pieces of shredded armor are thrown a good 10 or so meters away.

Suddenly a small light strobes on the array of buttons around the monitor.

"Incoming missile! Deploying flares!" The pilot screams through the radio. The gunship vibrates slightly as the gunship's computer automatically jettisons flares. A loud thump rumbles outside as the missile impacts the flares. The missile lock button quickly strobes again.

The gunship is out of flares.

"MAYDAY, MAYDAY, THIS IS PUFF-211 GOING DOWN OVER EQUESTRIA CITY, RESIDENTIAL DIS-"

* * *

><p>Marcus watches the distant smoking plane as a third missile speeds towards it, impacting the belly of the beast and tearing it in half. He quickly struggles to lift the debris off his body, wiping a hoof across his face and smearing blood. His horn glows bright red as he forces the debris off his body, unpinning himself. His dark purple suit glows the same color as an energy field ripples over it like waves in a pond.<p>

_Unlike Earthen militia, Unicorns do not wear steel armor. They wear a full-body, skin-tight suit of thin, comfortable fabric. The fabric is the ponies' armor. When a pulse of energy is applied throughout the fabric, the material holds that energy and redistributes it as a semi-solid force field around the pony. Being semi-solid, the force field allows the user to breathe and interact with objects around him/her, but any outside object traveling at a speed great enough to harm the user is stopped by the field – such as bullets and shrapnel. To activate the shield, a Unicorn merely has to energize the fabric. The fabric holds the energy field for roughly 32 hours, unless it is deactivated by the pony or damaged by explosions, bullets, or blunt impact – in which case the strength of the shield is proportionally lessened. The force field is completely invisible, only becoming visible when it is being recharged by the user, or damaged, in which it ripples like the surface of a pool of water. The force field is not airtight, so poison gas can, and will, kill the user. _

He raises the gun strapped to his hoof, sweeping his surroundings before checking his team members. He rolls his team members over.

John is dead, a piece of debris lodged in his head.

Sweets doesn't have any heartbeat. A deep gash on his right arm is spilling a pool of blood over the asphalt.

Harry is under a pile of debris, a trail of red seeping into the gutter a meter away.

Marcus takes their dog tags with his magic and places them in his small backpack.

His force field suddenly hisses and ripples along his body as a gunshot echoes through the street. Someone had shot at him – from close by. Marcus spins around and stands on two legs as he fires a quick burst of rounds from his light machine gun, an L-22 LMG, in the direction of the gunshot. He spots an Earthen pony duck out of the street and behind a low brick wall in a house's yard. Marcus stops firing and aims for the wall.

_That wall won't save your ass._

The L-22 shudders as seven 5.56mm rounds slice through the air, punching through the brick wall and pinging dents into the Earthen militia's armor.

_OH ITS ON_

Marcus's gun twitches and he fires the undermounted grenade launcher. The grenade hits the wall and explodes in a violent blast, completely destroying the wall and the Earthen pony's steel armor. The pony is dead before half of it hits the ground 5 meters away.

Marcus immediately turns around and runs on all fours in the direction of the extraction site. The site is a small park at the end of the street. A helicopter would be there, waiting to take Beta home.

_Only half a kilo to go before I can be safe at base with a nice goddamn lunch._

His ears prick up. He stops running and cocks his head slightly.

_oh HELL NO_

Marcus sprints and dives into the front door of a house nearby, smashing through it completely. The distant scream of jet engines rumbles through the house.

Suddenly a shockwave slams into him _hard_, throwing him against the wall and breaking windows. The brass chandelier by the door where he had been standing a second ago is torn out of the ceiling. It slams into the ground with a dull clang. Marcus gets up immediately and peers out a broken window at the explosion. He watches the contrail of the single jet as it turns around about a kilometer away. It is coming back for a second bombing run. He ducks back in the house and sprints to the back door. The sliding glass door is broken from the explosion. He runs outside and looks around to get his bearings.

He runs through the backyard in the direction of the extraction site, hopping over the wooden fence. He sprints and climbs over a few more fences before the jet screams by and bombs the street again.

This bomb is _close_.

The bomb fractures a house as Marcus sprints through the backyard. Marcus ducks behind a doghouse as debris is thrown by. His ears bleed slightly, but he can still hear the shrieking of the jet as it roars away. He hops fences for a few minutes, staying as close as he can to the houses so that he can hide from enemy air support. He stops and ducks through the open back door of a house. His footsteps echo off the tile floor of the kitchen. The sound of a helicopter echoes through the streets nearby.

_SHIT_

He strides over to the living room and looks carefully through the draped windows. A helicopter is deploying Earthen marines into the street right outside.

It is a search party. They are looking for him. He quietly runs through the kitchen, jumps out the backdoor, sprints into the backyard and climbs over the fence, continuing his advance to the extraction point.

_I'm gonna need the head start…_

Explosives have torn the backyard he lands in apart. The grass is a cratered mess of burnt dirt. The house the backyard belongs to isn't well off either. It's a mess of rubble.

Marcus runs around the craters and towards the house. He's tired of hopping fences. Besides, it's a slow way to travel. He climbs over the rubble and stands up on two legs on the highest mound.

He looks around. To the East is the extraction point, and to the West is the search party. He has at least a third of a kilometer to run to get the awaiting helicopter.

He jumps off the rubble and sprints on all fours, running as fast as he can towards the extraction point. A few seconds into his sprint, a trio of bullets whiz by his ears. The search party has spotted him, as he expected. A bullet zips up to him and pings off his shield, rippling the force field. Marcus continues running, ignoring everything but his distant extraction point. A grenade from a grenade launcher shoots by and hits a house, exploding in a storm of shrapnel that weakens his shield.

_THAT'S IT, SHOOT MORE! YOU CAN'T RUN ON TWO LEGS_

Marcus strains himself to run faster.

A radio transmission bursts through the earpiece in Marcus's bloody left ear.

"This is Fair Eagle, one member of Team Beta spotted, acknowledge, over."

Marcus yells as he runs, "This is Marcus B-343, I am all that's left. I am on route to extraction site Alpha, over."

Fair Eagle, the extraction helicopter, replies, "Affirmative. Be advised, Marcus, we can't make it to extraction site Alpha, due to enemy ground units in the area. Head to site Trinity, we will pick you up there, over."

Marcus curses loudly as he runs and turns a sharp left, heading South down a cross-street.

_THAT'S A WHOLE FUCKING KILOMETER AWAY_

"THAT'S A WHOLE FUCKING KILOMETER AWAY!"

"En route to site Trinity, ETA is 13 minutes. Get there, Marcus, over."

Marcus pants heavily and quickly as he sprints for the extraction point. An Earthen tank suddenly rounds the corner of a cross-street 400 meters ahead. It stops rolling and aims its cannon directly at Marcus.

_OH SHIT_

Marcus veers into a house, diving through the front window. The glass isn't stopped from his shield and scratches deeply into his shoulder. Blood drips out slowly but steadily as he continues running, kicking a chair through the sliding glass backdoor and running through before the all the glass shards hit the ground. The tank fires. First Marcus hears the distant boom of the heavy cannon. Then the round impacts the house.

The second floor of the house explodes in a mess of dust, wood splinters, and black smoke as Marcus runs out of the back door. His bleeding ears sting with pain as the explosion rumbles through his bones. Debris rains down around him. A small piece of piping hits him in the back. He trips but immediately forces his aching muscles to stand him back up. He looks around for a way around the enemy vehicle. The wooden fences of the backyards for a full block are obliterated. The tank must have driven through them earlier. He sprints on all four hooves through the yards towards Trinity.

The rumble of the tank rolling by on the street just on the other side of the houses makes Marcus run even faster. The tank heads in the opposite direction towards the house it just shot.

"Marcus, this is Fair Eagle. We are unable to pick you up at Trinity, due to enemy resistance. We are heading towards your position, ETA pretty damn quick, over."

_OH THANK GOD_

Marcus runs even faster, ignoring the blood now trailing from his right shoulder. He spots the helicopter in the distance, about 700 meters out and closing fast. He raises his gun and shoots straight up into the air, trying desperately to signal the aircraft.

"I spot you, Marcus. Prepare for on-the-run pickup, Fair Eagle out."

Marcus stops running and stands on two legs, his arms widely outstretched. Fair Eagle fires four missiles at the tank, now a few house's distance behind Marcus, as it flies. He doesn't flinch as the missiles explode behind him. Flaming pieces of the tank fly into the air.

A unicorn strapped to a short black rope lowers himself a few meters out of the helicopter as Fair Eagle speedily approaches Marcus. The dangling, combat vest-wearing pony is only a meter off the ground. He spreads out his arms as the helicopter approaches Marcus.

Fair Eagle roars over Marcus as the pony grabs him, knocking the wind out of Marcus. The helicopter roars as it climbs quickly, gaining altitude and turning South-West as the pony is pulled back up into the helicopter by his rope. Marcus climbs into a seat and fastens himself in, the other pony doing the same.

The helicopter speeds above the residential housing at over 100 meters.

The pony that snatched Marcus grabs a medical kit from under his seat, yelling through his radio to Marcus.

"Here, fix yourself up!"

Marcus catches the thin metal box with a red cross painted on it. He holds the box for a moment as he gazes out at the neighborhood below. Enemy tanks patrol the streets far below as the helicopter increases its altitude.

* * *

><p>A Unicorn slams his hoof on the desk. The sharp-dressed Unicorn in the desk's chair doesn't flinch.<p>

"You can't just do this! We have men and women fighting their asses off out there!"

The pony behind the desk stands up and stabs an unmoving hoof at the other pony.

"They were dead the minute they were deployed in EC! Their names will not be forgotten, their bravery not diminished…their lives will not be lost in vain!"

"You're killing your own troops!"

"They're fighting a war we're already losing! This is our chance at _redemption! _This is our chance to turn this war around!"

The sharp-dressed pony pushes a button on the desk phone.

"Launch is a go."

A voice crackles over the phone's speaker.

"Affirmative, launch is a go. Provide launch codes, sir."

The pony closes his eyes solemnly.

"Launch codes are as preceding: Trident, delta, five, niner, epsilon-"

* * *

><p>Strider spots something in the sky, high above the clouds. A dark grey metallic object is flying over the city. It's a missile of some sort, way above normal altitude. A fiery trail from its jet engine burns bright behind it. The jet engine cuts out as the missile falls.<p>

She stops and turns around in mid-air, speeding away.

"This is Strider E-255, tactical nuke incoming! Get out of the city, NOW!"

* * *

><p>Suddenly a bright light illuminates the helicopter's interior. Marcus covers his eyes with his hooves.<p>

The helicopter shuts off and begins to spin quickly as it falls down to the houses below. The pony that rescued Marcus flies out of his seat as his seatbelt snaps. He grabs onto a railing by the ceiling and wraps his arms around it tightly.

Marcus's arms are pulled off his face. His arms dangle straight out in front of him. He looks outside as the helicopter spins erratically. A massive, several-kilometer-wide spherical shockwave of pure fire is rushing towards them. He strains his neck and looks back at the pony hanging onto the railing. Hot air rushes through the helicopter as the shockwave gets closer.

The pony slips and is out of sight before Marcus blinks.

* * *

><p>Alison jumps at the loud explosion, turning around to see a shockwave incinerating buildings as it rushes past them. Asphalt boils as the shockwave nears it – evaporating as it burns past. The air around her heats up as the shockwave gets closer by the millisecond.<p>

She closes her eyes.

_This armor will be your shield.  
><em>

_This armor will be your **grave**._


	4. Ending

Her head aches deeply. The dull pain spreads through her cranium. It creeps down from the back of her head, rolling down to the start of her neck. Her neck holds the pain as it slowly spreads down to her upper back.

_That's gonna bruise…_

She opens her eyes.

Darkness.

She blinks a couple times and looks around. She can't tell if her eyes are open or closed.

_Damn EMP shut off my helmet._

Something scrapes her arm as he raises her hoof up to the back of her head. She ignores the slight pain and fumbles with the manual helmet release tab at the base of the helmet. After a few seconds of cursing, the helmet gives a satisfied click and separates into two pieces, neatly cut down the middle lengthwise. She looks around and sees that she is in a small empty air pocket in a massive pile of debris. A dusty, upside-down office chair pokes out from some of the concrete rubble below her. A thin beam of light threads through the wreckage above her head, ending at a small, shredded piece of a wood. This beam of light helps her know which way is up.

She digs with her hooves for a meter or so before climbing out of the shattered concrete blocks, glass, and wood debris. She escaped the range of the heat wave from the bomb, but the shockwave still thumped her hard enough to send her spiraling into a nearby building. The building apparently collapsed with her inside. She looks toward the city and sees an endless pile of rubble.

Not a single skyscraper stands. All that is left of the magnificent city are dirty piles of shattered building materials that extend for more than 4 kilometers in all directions. The epicenter of the bomb is clearly distinguishable…as a massive black crater. The surrounding environment for an entire kilometer around the crater is a nightmarish hell of immense fires and long columns of smoke rising high into the atmosphere. In the setting sun's light, Strider spots another Pegasus flying through the skies. Strider rises to match her comrade's altitude of around 600 meters or so. As she approaches the pony, she unfastens the now useless weapons off her hooves. They scratch against her bandaged arms as they fall off and drift to the ground far below. The distant Pegasus takes notice of Strider and breaks out of its orbit around the city, flying toward Strider. The pony has taken his helmet and weapons off too.

Strider soars up to the other pony and the two hover in place above the smoldering city as Strider asks the pony if he's ok.

The other pony nods slightly, "Yeah, the rest of my team is missing, though. I've been orbiting the city for an hour and there's no sign of anypony in there. What about you? You look pretty banged up."

Strider glances at a scab on her wing where a feather used to be. Her arms are bandaged in certain spots but the blood is clearly showing through.

"I'm fine. We should probably get out of the city; our weapons don't work without our helmets, and I'd hate caught being defenseless."

The other pony nods in agreement, "I'm Michael, by the way. I was dropped with Delta earlier today."

Strider turns slightly as she flies East toward the residential district of Equestria City. Michael flies on her left. The warm air smoothly flows past them. Strider stares straight ahead as she replies,

"I'm Strider, I was with Epsilon."

The other pony gives Strider a quizzical look, "You wouldn't happen to be E-255, would you?"

"Yes, why?"

The other pony chuckles, "You're last transmission saved my life. I owe you that."

Strider looks back towards the city as she flies, "Well, I hope it saved others, too."

"I repeat, this is…seven, Equestria City has been nuked. We…"

"You're breaking up, identify yourself, over."

"This is Alex Th…of Team 177, North Sec…Equestria City has…stroyed."

"Hold on, Alex - confirm status, did you just say Equestria City has been destroyed?"

"Affirmat…"

"Roger that. By who?"

"How the hell should I know…doubt it was…Unicorns. They had tons of troops deplo…here."

"So it was the Pegasi?"

"Dammit, sir, I don't…just guessin'! It doesn't…matter now, Esquestria City's gone! We have numerous wounded and thous…missing…somepony…us the fuck out of here?"

The Earthen communications officer slaps himself at the obvious dire situation of his fellow soldiers.

"Affirmative, I'll rally up evac shuttles. Hold tight, Alex."

He sends the coordinates of Alex's transmission to the commander of the base, who instantly approves the rescue mission to get his soldiers out of Equestria City…or what's supposedly left of it. Evacuation shuttles are warming up and being filled with personnel on the runway outside within 5 minutes. The officer turns to glance at the massive, troop transport planes as their engines roar to life. His breath fogs the window from a meter away as the snow falls in torrents outside.

"Evac shuttles are en route to your location, Alex. What is the condition of your squad?"

"We're holding up in…building still partially standing. Friendly and enemy vehicles are disabled. Weapons too, the EMP knocked…neural connections to our hardware."

"Copy, how are you radioing in?"

"…hardwired a radio…my bare fuckin' teeth!"

"Damn. Well, you sit tight, Alex. Shuttles should be on you within 5 hours, approximate."

"…ger. Alex out."

The communications officer slumps back in his chair. Somepony used nuclear weapons. This isn't going to help end the war anytime soon. He sighs deeply as he glances over to a picture of a mare taped above his computer monitor. Her face always makes him smile, knowing that every day brings him closer to seeing her. But now…so much for being sent home. The Earthen Military is gonna need all the help they can get. The roar of the aircraft taking off outside rumbles through the small room.

_This war is only getting bloodier. _


End file.
